Smoke Dza

Born in Manhattan in 1984 and raised in Harlem in a family of Guyanese origin, Smoke DZA aligns with the New York rap tradition while developing a more laid-back writing style focused on everyday life, cannabis culture and the rap-lifestyle aesthetic. Initially active in battle rap and later part of the duo Smoke & Numbers, Smoke DZA launched his solo career from 2008 after being noticed earlier by Jonny Shipes and Cinematic Music Group. His trajectory was built through a dense series of mixtapes and projects that established him on the East Coast’s independent hip-hop stages, with a marked taste for mellow productions, slow rhythms and soul- or psychedelic-tinged atmospheres. Milestones in his discography include Rolling Stoned (2011), Rugby Thompson (2012), produced by Harry Fraud, and Dream.Zone.Achieve (2014). He followed those with He Has Risen (2016), Don’t Smoke Rock (2016) together with Pete Rock, Not for Sale (2018), A Closed Mouth Don’t Get Fed (2020), Homegrown (2020) and Full Court Press (2022) alongside Girl Talk, Wiz Khalifa and Big K.R.I.T. A founding member of the Smokers Club, Smoke DZA has also collaborated with numerous artists from the New York rap scene and the American underground circuit, while keeping an identity strongly tied to Harlem.